Mangabot
by Metal Madness
Summary: What truly happened between Sonic Adventure 2 and Hereos? Eggman made the Mangabot. Read on to learn more. COMPLETE. (P.S 'Sonic Heroes' possible spoiler)
1. Welcome back Shadow

Disclaimer: I own none of these people. There Sega's. Except the Mangabot itself. Okay, I think thats it.  
  
Chapter 1: Welcome back Shadow...  
  
Shadow felt the unbearable heat as he crashed down to the earth below. He was closing in on the atmosphere and it was not a enjoyable experience. Shadow spat something, probably blood, and closed his eyes. He had fulfilled his promise and to him nothing could be better. His purpose was fulfilled and... Shadow's hand felt something he was holding. Shadow used his other hand to feel his skin, pieces of himself were tearing off, if he was to proceed with the idea he would have to act quickly  
  
"C-c-chaos c-c-control..." and with that, he was gone.  
  
"WHERE IS IT!!!" Four Animal heads span around as this sound erupted from the Cannons core room on the A.R.K. A red echidna suddenly blurted out, shocking the bat close by,  
  
"The emeralds!" As soon as this was exclaimed the other animals completely understood and were on the way to the location of the sound.  
  
Robotnik chucked various stuff through the air as he searched around a small pile of emeralds shouting various swears and curses. He was so enraged he was becoming hard-boiled. He threw a slab of rock witch had come off the emerald shrine in the A.R.K.'s close encounter with destroying the earth. The slab flew fairly straight and barely missed Sonic as he rushed in.  
  
"What's the matter Eggman? I could help you find brain, but I think you lost it before coming on the A.R.K." Sonic realised he would have to improve his wit when he got back. Robotnik turned around to face Sonic. Robotnik's face was now sporting eyes ten times the original size and a mouth that looked like it would ravage Sonic apart.  
  
"WHERES THE RED EMERALD?!!!" Robotnik, uncharacteristically, jumped on Sonic and started throttling him. Sonic tried to break free to no prevail. Robotnik's look of anger was slowly morphing to a look of glee. As Sonic changed to a lighter shade of blue, however, Knuckles, Rouge and Tails all entered the room. Knuckles gave Robotnik a one-two punch to his face without a second's hesitation. Robotnik released Sonic and fell to the ground. Rouge smelt trouble and made her exit. Tails was about to say something before Sonic shouted  
  
"THE RED EMERALDS GOne..." Sonics voice trailed off as he was suddenly reminded of turning Super with Shadow. Shadow had an outstretched hand... the red emerald and the other emeralds were rotating around them... The emerald past Shadow... Then it was gone...  
  
"Shadow took the emerald." Sonics voice had quietened. Robotnik decided this was going nowhere. He tried to grab the emeralds, but was stopped by Knuckles, who stepped on Robotnik's hand.  
  
"Time for a hero's reward" sneered Robotnik as he took a small remote from his pocket and started pressing buttons  
  
"Where's Amy?" Tails looked around with a look of confusion on his face "I mean I was fairly sure she was here before..." Robotnik looked up from is seemingly random pressing of buttons, obviously thinking of Tails as a complete idiot.  
  
"I am about to blow up the damn space station and all you can think of is where that pink hedgehog, who, by the way, is as useful as a dead battery, has buggered off to?"  
  
"BLOW UP??!!??" Sonic snapped out of his thought so quickly Tails fell over shocked. Robotnik gave out a quiet, small laugh and exclaimed  
  
"I will miss flattening you with badniks." and with that, pressed the last button.  
  
The President sank slightly into his chair. He had just received information that the A.R.K had successfully been stopped. He went through a few papers on in desk until he came to one with the title Operation: 'Eggman'. He scanned through the writing before picking up the phone and calling the F.B.I  
  
"Tell the agent to come back with the Chaos Emeralds and Eggman in custody." The President heard some muttering on the line, until he was given an answer.  
  
"Apparently, sir, Eggman threatened to blow up the A.R.K colony if anyone stopped his escape, also, sir," By now the President was slightly less happy than he was a minute ago. "The ultimate life, Shadow, stole one of the emeralds before crashing into the Earth" The President thought over the situation a before replying  
  
"O.K, get the remaining Emeralds back, strengthen security around Gerald's other creation, Gizord, and send G.U.N to where 'Shadow' will land, if Dr. Gerald truly made him the ultimate life, I'm sure we might find some of his remains, and the Emerald."  
  
Underground, under many hidden tunnels, Robotnik had another base. Unlike his other base, this was more futuristic. Silver walls, automatic lift like doors and many large, years ahead of their time, computers and other technology. In one such room a smallish, blue robot flexed its spiked fingers and stared coldly with his red pupiled, black eyes. E-114 was not programmed to feel fear, to be frank; he was only programmed to follow orders.  
  
"Initiating battle mode." Metal Sonic, who had much more free will, took this as 'GO', leapt in the air, coming down on the unfortunate E-Series robot hard. E-114 tried to hit Sonic's Mecha double, only to attack air. E-114 stopped the on slaughter of air briefly to see Metal Sonic balanced on his Left arm. Metal Sonic gave E-114 a quick 'tornado kick' and fell to the floor, followed by the remains of the latest E-Series robot. Metal Sonic rose to full height as one of the monitors behind him started making a strange siren like noise. Eggman then appeared on the screen as Metal Sonic turned around.  
  
"Metal Sonic, I need you to hack into the government computer and keep notified for any transmissions concerning Shadow. I have a hunch. I'll be 'on the road' so notify me from the Egg-O-Matic." And with that, Metal Sonic made some mechanical noises and switch the monitor off. He then pressed a few buttons, which moved a wall to reveal a door with the words 'Metal overlord' written over it. Despite not having a mouth, Metal Sonic seemed to smile. 


	2. Gerald's Journal

Disclaimer: I own none of these people. There Sega's. Except the Mangabot itself. Okay, I think thats it.  
  
Chapter 2: Gerald's journal  
  
The Ultimate life form has been finished. Unfortunately, the current design has been turned down. It is uncontrollable; it killed three scientists today alone. The government has threatened to close down the A.R.K. If that is done then I won't be able to save my grand daughter Maria...  
  
The ultimate life form has been concealed in the A.R.K's core.... I have translated the scription found with the Gizzord.... I now know what my creation could be capable of... I am going to recreate this ultimate life... It will not be a weapon... it will have soul.  
  
The New ultimate life, codenamed 'Shadow' for its black colouring and silent movement, has shown unparallel strength and I have yet to fully finish him. I decided to model him after a hedgehog, an animal Maria has always liked.  
  
The floating Island was half destroyed by a creature called Chaos and the Government, caring not for the disaster the Echidnas have just faced, have had many a Chao brought in for us to multiply the 'Chaos' who caused the Islands trauma. As far as I know only Maria and the almost complete 'Shadow' have found any use for the Chaos. They have made a small robotic Chao called 'Omochao'. I.... I only wish I could save here.  
  
I learned of the bio-Chaos, which were made. They have over run the A.R.K. I watch as my now complete Shadow destroyed them to save us. Unfortunately, he was ambushed and severely damaged... I hope I can save Him...  
  
Due to yesterdays disaster I have fixed Shadow with a new feature. To keep him from re-experiencing his pain, he will suffer small shades of amnesia. It may seem a odd treatment, but he has shown much faster recovery. The amnesia has been made to be very selective so he will not forget the important things.  
  
It has been a week since the A.R.K incident. In my current state of mind I can't tell if this is real, or my past haunting me, but I saw a News report... on it told of Shadow. He had completely destroyed a main Government building... I fear the future...  
  
This is my last report. Shadow has been caught. I am Insane; there is no way around it. I fear what I may do...  
  
Rouge studied the entries. She was leading the operation to take the A.R.K out of orbit. The operation was all but finished and she decided to study the Professors entries in hope of uncovering more on Shadow. She had grown to respect Shadow. He had only known fighting and power, yet he was programmed to feel. He was programmed to love, yet had it taken from him by the government.  
  
"It is a sad tale, is it not." Rouge turned to see one of the people who volunteered to join the operation. He was a red armadillo with a striking resemblance to Sonic. "Of course, I can't imagine being insane and knowing it is a picnic."  
  
"Who are you?" Rouge asked, puzzled.  
  
"I am Mighty. I wonder this world, doing what I can. I joined this operation has a friend of mine helped stop the tragedy this spacestaion was to cause."  
  
"Who? Sonic?"  
  
"Yes, and Echidna by the name 'Knuckles'."  
  
"Oh, him." Rouge trailed off. Mighty walked towards the window and stared out of it.  
  
"Do you happen to know where Robotnik went"  
  
"Who?" Mighty rolled his eyes  
  
"You know, Grandson of this Gerald ROBOTNIK"  
  
"Oh, Eggman." Mighty murmured something under his breath before Rouge continued, " Why do you want to know?"  
  
"Me and the Doctor have a bit of catching up to do."  
  
Eggman was scowering the Sahara. If his calculations were accurate, Shadow should have landed about the place where that A.R.K camp was... oh. Eggman sighed. Why was nothing easy anymore? Eggman prepared to make a stealthy attack using his Egg-o-matic, but got bored and blasted the entire place down.  
  
Eggman wallowed through the laser marked robot parts and circuits. In the centre of the camp was a Hospital tent. Eggman knew what was in it. It was no million pound question. Eggman called his base before he held his cell phone up to his ear.  
  
"Metal Sonic, I believe I have found Shadow. Judging from his accommodation I'll say he is no more than badly damaged." Eggman was answered by some metallic sounds. "Why am I always talking to a robot?" Eggman muttered as he put his phone away. Eggman reminded himself of what was currently more important and walked into the tent. When he entered he saw a few robots on the floor... Destroyed, and two doctors cowering in the corner. Eggman looked to the center of the room to see what he suspect standing on top of an operating table. It was giving Eggman a confused look  
  
"...Professor?..." 


	3. Leaked Information

Disclaimer: I own none of these people. There Sega's. Except the Mangabot itself. Okay, I think thats it.  
  
Chapter 3: Leaked information  
  
"Do you have any Bob the Bakers?" Everybody gave Tails confused looks  
  
"Tails, we're playing poker, plus there's no Bob the Baker." Knuckles corrected him  
  
"Yeah okay, but there seems that on this card there's a picture of a na..."  
  
"WHO MIXED UP MY CARD SETS?" Knuckles looked suspiciously at Sonic  
  
"Well sorry for trying to spice up a game where you have to sit down for more than 5 minutes" Sonic explained, his leg twitching a bit  
  
"Hay, this ones a man..." Cream observed  
  
"Yeah I mixed it with some of Amy's cards while I was at it." An evil grin was formed on Sonic's face  
  
"What's a 12 year old doing with a deck with..."  
  
"Lets just get back to the game" Amy interrupted, looking embarrassed. Sonic took all the cards and sorted all the cards into there proper decks at supersonic speed. Sonic then shuffled a Suitable deck and passed cards to Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Cream without slowing down. Knuckles pick up his cards and sneered, Tails seemed slightly disappointed that there was no 'Bob the Baker', Amy was just staring at Sonic and Cream had picked up her cards, keeping her little finger outstretched. Knuckles moved a few chips forward  
  
"I bet... £10" Knuckles smiled slightly, egging Sonic on, who returned the smile  
  
"I match your bet Knuckles" Sonic announced. Everyone else did as well. Knuckles shacked his head and placed down his cards  
  
" 3 Kings" Knuckles chuckled slightly.  
  
" 5 Kings" Tails laughed happily  
  
" Errr... Tails..." Sonic began before a word on the news caught his attention  
  
"...G.U.N camp. Two Doctors in the camp witnessed the attack. They reported the attacker to be the famous Terrorist, Dr Ivo Robotnik, who stole a classified weapon. Fears have arose we have a second 'A.R.K incident' on our hands...  
  
"How did this get out, who, why..." The President struggled to make sense. The head of the F.B.I stood in front of him, slightly uneasy; he was keeping an unemotional face and was keeping any movement to a minimal.  
  
"You know how the media is, like vultures..." The F.B.I head kept his straight face as the President considered what he said  
  
"But, there was no way they could have..."  
  
"This isn't the first time something like this has happened, they found out about, say..." The president sighed  
  
"What was this confidential weapon he took?" The F.B.I head shuffled slightly and looked to the ground  
  
"It was... er project... emm Shadow." The President was taken aback, he started to choke slightly  
  
"Project Shadow, IT'S ALIVE? IT'S IN THE HANDS OF EGGMAN?!?" The F.B.I head was about to answer, but stopped himself. "...Look, get it back, I don't care how, the people you put on this mission will be untouchable by the law." The President sank into his chair, shaking his head. The head of the F.B.I scratched the back of his head and his eyes darted around the room  
  
"I think the best candidate for this mission would be, Rouge..."  
  
"Don't you think having her untouchable by law might be a bad idea?"  
  
"She is our best shot..."  
  
"Fine, whatever" The President sighed, "Why can't we just destroy this 'Shadow'?"  
  
"Well, last time we tried, it lead to... un-pleasantries..."  
  
Metal Sonic looked unimpressed. Gerald's Ultimate life form was, what? A hedgehog, a simple organism, no advanced cellular structure, no additional Technology, pathetic. The doctor is going to defeat Sonic with some outdated black Sonic? Just pathetic. Eggman stood over a set of controls, staring at Shadow as he floated in a green liquid, connected by wires. This machine was keeping all his statistics in order. Metal Sonic moved over to one of Eggman's computers. He flipped open a small panel on his left arm and pulled a small wire out. He then proceeded to connect the wire from him to the computer. Eggman looked away from Shadow to look at the monitor. 'This is your ultimate weapon?' wrote itself on the screen. Eggman made a small laughing like sound  
  
"He is more powerful than he looks, beside this is not my Ultimate weapon" Eggman gave a sinister grin. The words erased themselves and replaced themselves with 'You think he is powerful? He simply looks like some deranged Sonic fan.' Eggman glanced back at Shadow. "He will wake up soon, after I 'fill' him in, you'll can test his power." Metal Sonic nodded and disconnected himself from the computer. Eggman returned to the control panel. "Ah, you might get your chance sooner than suspected."  
  
The A.R.K had come into the Earth atmosphere, this time at a safe speed. Rouge and Mighty watched as the members of the operation landed the Ark in a large uninhabited area of Texas. Rouge looked at Mighty, he had gone curiously quiet. She had considered starting to spark a conversation, but she remembered that this was just how Knuckles use to get, and it's best not to interrupt him when he's like that.  
  
"What of impotents is on this ship?" Mighty had his eyes closed as he talked. Rouge was taken by surprise.  
  
"What?" No sooner had Rouge said that when an explosion broke the south facing wall. Mighty jump up on the North wall and watched as a robot walked out of the smoke and rubble. Rouge, slightly shocked by the explosion stood unmoving as the robot scanned the area.  
  
"What is he after?" Mighty shouted  
  
"No clue" Rouge shouted, snapping out of the shock. The robot finished his scan and clenched his fist  
  
"Scan complete: objective: containable, Threat: minimal, chance of success: 95.261%" The robot started to make his way to his objective, seemingly unnoticing Mighty and Rouge. Mighty lowered his brow. He jumped at the robot. The robot just managed to look before being hit hard.  
  
"Minimal threat my..."  
  
"Look out!" Mighty turned to be whacked by a fist as large as his face. Mighty stumbled back a bit, shacked it off, and returned the favour. The Robot attempted another fist to face, but Mighty ducked. Mighty noticed some writing on the Robots shoulder.  
  
"E-115?" Mighty muttered as he jumped over the Robots second fist. Mighty clenched his right hand as he landed behind E-115. He flinged his fist in the direction of E-115. E-115 grabbed the flying fist and gave Mighty a uppercut punch with his other hand. As Mighty flied upwards. E-115 was then hit from behind with a flying kick, courtesy of Rouge. E-115 turned around and grabbed Rouge by the neck. Mighty rushed to the rescue. E-115 swung angrily with his free arm at Mighty. Mighty grabbed the swinging arm and disconnected it in one quick blow. E-115 now released Rouge to fight against Mighty. Rouge gasped for breath as Mighty dodged E-115's remaining arm. Rouge took a deep breath and returned to the action  
  
" 'fraid I'm going to have to spoil your fun boys." Rouge said as she let loose a kick into the robots chassis. E-115 was tossed to the ground hard. the sound of breaking machinery came from within. Mighty gave a slight sigh and Rouge looked down at the robot confidently. Suddenly Mighty looked startled and turned around. In the hole made by E-115 an identical robot stood, holding a disk  
  
"Objective complete: Maria Journal secured." Flames started to come out of the robots feet, which boosted him away at amazing speed  
  
"let me guess" Mighty turned to Rouge "There was an E-116 here just now." 


	4. Shadow's new past

Disclaimer: I own none of these people. There Sega's. Except the Mangabot itself. Okay, I think thats it.  
  
Chapter 4: Shadow's new past  
  
"No Sonic." Knuckles stated. Sonic looked at him, cool and relaxed as ever.  
  
"I think they owe it to me."  
  
"What? All they did was kidnap you, then hunt you down like a valuable jem."  
  
"Don't forget send Gerald Robotnik insane!" Tails added. Knuckles look at Sonic sarcastic face.  
  
"Fine." Knuckles then dug into the ground. Sonic and Tails then waited. Sonic stood for 5 seconds, then rushed off before returning for 5 seconds and running off again. Tails sat down and started tinkering with some small contraption. After a minute Sonic ran over to Tails  
  
"What are you tinkering with now?"  
  
"This should allow us to keep track of Knuckles." Tails replied  
  
"Yeah, like we'll need... what are the red dots?"  
  
"er, those would be the guards." Tails bit his bottom lip as he looked at the now red screen with a small green dot in the middle, Knuckles.  
  
"Well it's your fault for having so many infer red beams." Knuckles complained to the large assortment of G.U.N robots and men.   
  
"You're the one who tried to infiltrate the base!" one of the men shouted. Knuckles raised his eyebrows  
  
"You don't say." Knuckles admired his own knuckles for a minute, before glancing back at the G.U.N members "Now will you tell me what this stolen weapon is, or do I have to get 'destructive' on your behinds?" Upon finishing Knuckles heard the sound of hundreds of guns having there safety switched off. Knuckles smirked and shacked his head. "This is going to be fun."  
  
"Open Fire!!!" Someone shouted. Gunfire filled the room.  
  
"What's Happening?" Sonic queried.  
  
"The red dots are decreasing rapidly!" Tails announced.  
  
"Good old Knux" Sonic chuckled  
  
The remaining Member of G.U.N looked around. These robots aren't very smart, they all shot each other! Knuckles leapt out of the hole and looked around. He then walked slowly to the G.U.N member  
  
"I'll ask again..." Knuckles said threateningly.  
  
"The weapon stolen was...." The guard swallowed hard "called Project..."  
  
"Shadow!" Eggman laughed as the Black Hedgehog emerged from his container. Shadow looked over at the fat man with the large ginger Moustache and a Pilot-like suit. He also noted a slightly annoyed looking Metal hedgehog watching. He returned his attention to the Bald man. He looked like... no, could it?  
  
"Gerald? is that..."  
  
"Ha ha, no. I am is Grandson, Dr Ivo Robotnik. I'm afraid I have some bad news." Eggman tried to look sympathetic, but only managed to amuse Metal Sonic. "You should see this." Eggman then handed Shadow a disk. The disk looked familiar, it belonged to... Maria... Maria! Shadow suddenly was struck by memory. Running. Red light. Shadow grabbed his head. Corridor. Room. Maria. Machine; escape pod. Shadows eyes began to dart.  
  
"Shadow I beg of you..." I beg of you...  
  
"Shadow, Shadow, you might want to see that journal." Shadow was brought out of his thought. Metal Sonic shock his head. Pathetic. Shadow took the disk and went over to the computer Metal Sonic used earlier. He put the disk halfway in, swallowed, then put it all the way in.  
  
Maria's Journal: Entry 1. Shadow flicked through the entries. Entry 29. Shadow felt many memories return, his past was all here in the words written by his only friend, Maria. Entry 44. Shadow had his memories returned, one by one. Final Entry... Shadow stopped. Final entry? Is this a description of Maria's final hour?  
  
'G.U.N have attacked the space colony A.R.K. I have managed to save my best friend, Shadow. Unfortunately I won't be so lucky. After I saved Shadow the leader of the assault attacked in a blur of blue. He then left me to die. If this is found... please revenge me, kill Sonic the Hedgehog.'  
  
"Sonic." Shadow remembered this name. It struck a chord in his brain. Metal Sonic looked at Eggman. The Journal Hacker just smiled and twiddled his thumbs. "Sonic..." Shadow thought. Words came to his mind as he tried to recall the individual. Faker... persistent... Chaos control... Super... Shadow glanced at Eggman who instantly made a 'sad face'. Metal Sonic rolled his eyes. Eggman is not a good actor.  
  
"Doctor, where could I find this 'Sonic'?" Eggman replaced his upset look with one of superiority. Ha! Knuckles was suppose to be the gullible one.  
  
"Before you can face Sonic we need to test your still at optimum efficiently." Metal Sonic moved forwards. He flexed his hands and head, and then taunted Shadow with a Martial art pose. Shadow looked from Eggman, to Metal Sonic, then back to Eggman. "You will spar with Metal here." Metal Sonic gave Shadow a sinister look. Shadow smiled slightly  
  
"When do we start?" Shadow confidently leaned on the computer. Eggman laughed in his typical maniacal fashion.  
  
"Now." Eggman sneered. Metal Sonic took off at top speed almost instantly. Shadow jumped over Metal Sonic, grabbing his head on the way. Metal Sonic glanced at the black hedgehog leeched on his head. He then flew straight up, Shadow still holding on. When high enough, Metal Sonic activated his electric shield. Shadow let out a scream and released Metal Sonic. As Shadow fell, Metal Sonic flew down, determined. Shadow crashed into the floor, causing a giant hole to be formed. Metal Sonic flew into the hole. There was a brief pause, then Shadow was fling out the hole. Mid-air, Shadow flipped over, landing on his feet. Metal Sonic jumped out of the hole. Shadow and Metal Sonic ran at each other, fists raised, concentration focused. Metal Sonic swiped at Shadow. Metal Sonic stopped. Shadow had gone? Metal Sonic spinned around, Where is he? How did he do that? Shadow suddenly kicked Metal Sonic from above. Metal Sonic fell over. Shadow landed and spindashed Metal Sonic without hesitation. Metal Sonic regained his balance and blocked Shadow's sudden punch. Metal Sonic and Shadow engaged in a fury of fists and kicks. Shadow occasionally teleported out of a fists path and tried to land an assault on Metal Sonic's back. Metal Sonic had reached optimum power. He was straining to continue. He was going to shutdown unless he finished this soon. Metal Sonic flied over to the container Shadow was kept in not to long ago. He smashed the glass and flinged shards at Shadow. Shadow braced for impact. the split second before impact Shadow disappeared. Metal Sonic glanced around, how is he doing that? Out of nowhere Shadow appeared, in his hand were the shards previously thrown at him. Shadow sneered. Metal Sonic was about to react before having five glass shards stabbed into his chest. Metal Sonic attempted a punch, but shut down before making contact. Eggman looked impressed at Shadow's performance. "I believe this proves you remember Chaos control." Eggman patted the red Chaos emerald found with Shadow. 


	5. Stubborn and full of surprises

Disclaimer: I own none of these people. There Sega's. Except the Mangabot itself. Okay, I think thats it.  
  
Chapter 5: Stubborn and full of surprises  
  
"So... is this good news, or bad news?" Sonic gave a worried look to Knuckles, then Tails  
  
"Well, he saved all our lives on the A.R.K" Knuckles replied  
  
"So did Eggman."  
  
"Good point, but Eggman was saving his own hind. Shadow actually changed."  
  
"You know this how?"  
  
"Amy claims after she preached to him he said something about promises and Maria and started acting good."  
  
"Has Amy been on drugs or something."  
  
"Do tic-tacs count?" Tails asked.  
  
"You're really stupid today, did you know that?" Tails went slightly embarrassed for some reason. Knuckles rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for this. He walked off as Tails and Sonic got engaged in a conversation about how accurate Tails IQ test was. Knuckles got about ten steps away when he saw something. Out of the corner of his eye something had moved very fast. Knuckles looked to see nothing. Knuckles continued to walk. He knew only a small amount of animals could have moved that fast, Sonic, for example. Knuckles had easily come to a conclusion on who it was. It was none of his concern. If he was after anyone, it would be Sonic, heck, Knuckles would be surprised if he actually knew he exists. Knuckles looked back at Sonic, who seemed to be doing a gesture which translated into 'Tails, you're a little twit.' Knuckles smiled.  
  
"Good luck sonic."  
  
Shadow Stood watching Sonic and Tails. He was as still as the rocks beneath him. This was Maria's murderer. Odd. This hedgehog did not strike Shadow as the leader of an assault of such brutefulness. Shadow shook his head, he can't question such things, all he knew was he killed Maria, he must die. Shadow shook his head again. If he let his anger take control he would be too enraged to fight properly. Shadow looked back down at Sonic. Pathetic faker, wait, did he just think faker? Shadow suddenly was struck by memory. Green, forest, bomb? Shadow remembered words,  
  
"You're comparing yourself to me? Ha! Your not even good enough to be my fake." Had he said that? Shadow dismissed the memory. Shadow looked back at the blue hedgehog hitting a fox with a two by four. It was time to revenge Maria.  
  
Metal Sonic walked around a small room. On the walls there were pictures of everyone Metal Sonic had ever met. On each picture a word was scribbled on with a red marker. 'Speed' on Sonic's, 'Mechanics' on Tails, 'Continues flight' on Charmy's, 'Stealth' on Espio's and so on. In the middle was a machine. Not Eggman's machine mind, his machine. Metal Sonic stuck a picture of shadow on a space on the wall. He picked up his marker and wrote 'Chaos Control' on the picture. Metal Sonic glanced around the room. After this was over he would no longer be Metal Sonic. He would be more than Sonic.  
  
"Metal! Where have you gone?" Eggman's voice bellowed from the control room. Metal Sonic floated out of the room, sealing the door on the way. Metal Sonic found Eggman intently watching a monitor. Eggman turned as Metal Sonic approached. Eggman was in good humours. "Ah, my plan is soon to come to its finishing stages. As Shadow and Sonic fight, you and a returning lackey of mine shall steal the Chaos Emeralds." Eggman smiled manically. Metal Sonic hooked himself to a computer. On the screen came the words 'What do you want them for this time? Haven't you learned to leave them alone yet?' Eggman continued to smile "Metal, Metal, Metal. I need not worry about Sonic getting them and turning super. Not even Super Sonic can defeat the Mangabot." Metal Sonic looked sceptical. 'Who is this old lackey joining me?' Eggman read the screen and pointed upward. Metal Sonic looked upward to see a bat hanging above them  
  
"Hay sugar, looks like were partnering up." Rouge flied down onto the ground, looking over Metal Sonic. "He could pass for Sonic if you changed his eyes, and nose." Rouge noted. Metal Sonic Looked from Rouge, to Eggman, to Rouge. He rolled his eyes, and made words manifest on the screen. 'If I'm to work with her can you do just one thing for me?'  
  
" What?" Eggman replied. On the screen appeared the words 'Give me a voice box to tell her to shut up with' Eggman laughed. Rouge was unsure how to reply, not that it mattered as the monitor would have interrupted her anyway  
  
"Doctor, I'm going to kill the hedgehog now" Rouge looked at the monitor. Shadow was right outside a G.U.N base. Well, this will make her job easier. Rouge slipped out of view and pulled out here Mobile phone. With it she text a message reading 'Ultimate life, outside G.U.N base.' Then, as quietly as she left, she remerged. Everyone's attention was on Shadow, so no one saw her sneak off. Rouge smiled, won't be long now.  
  
"You come out with such idiotic things, I mean what the heck was that 'We all did it TOGETHER' statement?" Sonic had abandoned the two by four and was now engaged in a fist fight with Tails.  
  
"Well, at least I don't reputably sprout phrases from 1980!" Tails argued back.  
  
"Well, Miles, I..." Sonic stopped. Tails looked in the direction Sonic's face was staring and moved away. Sonic prepared himself for what could possibly come next. Shadow stood several feet in front of him. For a minute no one talked, no one moved. Then Shadow broke the silence  
  
"Sonic the Hedgehog, leader of G.U.N's A.R.K attack." Sonic was taken aback.  
  
"I've never worked for G.U.N. Shadow don't..." Sonic didn't get time to finish his sentence  
  
"LIAR! You killed Maria!" Shadow's voice filled with hatred and anger. Sonic turned to Tails.  
  
"Who's Maria?" Sonic was then suddenly hit by Shadow. Shadow pounded Sonic like he was a punching bag. There wasn't a seconds hesitation for Sonic to strike in. Tails rushed to Sonic's rescue, only to be kicked and sent flying. Shadow hit Sonic with a uppercut, jumped and whacked him down to earth again. Sonic landed on his head. He picked himself up, only to be sent down to the floor by Shadow. Shadow picked up Sonic, chucked him upwards and started to charge a spindash. Sonic fell on the turning black ball which was Shadow and was repeatedly hit by his black spikes. Sonic Managed to jump away from Shadow. Sonic landed, he was breathing heavily. He was ridden with blood. Sonic tried to talk sense into Shadow. "Shadow! Don't you remember me? The A.R.K crashing? the Bio-lizard?" Shadow stopped, Bio-lizard? Shadow had another flash of Memory, two yellow hedgehogs were killing a giant brown thing on the nose of the A.R.K. One looked like... like Shadow. The Hedgehog said something  
  
"I must destroy all the evil the professor made." What dose that mean? Sonic stared at Shadow. He had suddenly stopped and started glancing randomly around. Shadow came back to the present, stick to the plan Shadow told himself. Shadow looked at Sonic, who was finding it hard not to fall under his own weight. Shadow smiled.  
  
"Sonic Spikes, Spikes Sonic." Shadow pulled the red Chaos emerald from somewhere and before Sonic could do anything Shadow shouted "Chaos Control!!", but instead of transporting himself, Sonic was covered in a green glow. In three seconds Sonic disappeared and reappeared above many spikes. Shadow walked off victorious. He took out a small mobile and said into it "Mission, complete." 


	6. Hell has no fury like a hedgehog

Disclaimer: I own none of these people. There Sega's. Except the Mangabot itself. Okay, I think thats it.  
  
Chapter 6: Hell has no fury like a Hedgehog  
  
Rouge glided down elegantly from the air vent. She was followed by Metal Sonic, who landed with a thump. Rouge checked the blueprints given to her by Eggman. This looked right. Rouge turned to Metal Sonic.  
  
"The safe should be just down here." Metal Sonic glanced around with a cynical eye.  
  
"Pathetic security for such a large collection of Chaos Emeralds. Morons." Rouge noted that Metal Sonic's new voice box sounded like a metallical version of Sonic's voice. Suitable.  
  
"Just do your bit." Metal Sonic nodded. He looked upward at the rotating Cameras. After a brief pause all the cameras shut down simultaneously. As soon as that happened Rouge dashed for the safe, calling Metal Sonic. "They'll be here to inspect those cameras soon!" Metal Sonic followed, using a wireless feature Eggman gave him to scrabble and close any electrical device, to rid the path of any infer red beams. Rouge reached the Safe and started to hack into the coded lock. Metal Sonic came closely after. He waited five minutes for Rouge to crack it before growing impatient.  
  
"Stand back or lose your inconsequential life" Metal Sonic sneered. Metal Sonic approached the door and rested his hand on it. Rouge stepped back and watch as Metal Sonic effortlessly made the wall collapse on itself. Rouge looked impressed  
  
"Eggman could have told me he gave you that ability." Metal Sonic paused.  
  
"He didn't give me it." Metal Sonic walked into the room and approached the Emeralds. Purple, blue, green, orange, yellow. With Shadows Emerald that should make six. There's one missing. Metal Sonic pondered this for a moment before hearing Rouge shouting. Millions of military robots were closing in on them. Metal Sonic turned to face them. He could not see the floor due to the sheer amount of them. Metal Sonic, as cool as ever, simply walked down to greet the masses of robots. The robots took aim at Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic simply clenched his fist. The robots fired a blinding amount of laser fire at the metal hedgehog. Metal Sonic simply watched the flying death. The second before the lasers hit Metal Sonic activated his shield, destroying all the shots. A leading robot signalled his lackeys to hold there fire. Once the barrage of lasers stopped Metal Sonic turned off his shield. Before the robots could fire a second round Metal Sonic aimed his hand and fired what seemed to be his fingers at the robots. As the missiles hit the robots Metal Sonic aimed his palm at them and let forth a mighty flame. In a matter of seconds all the robots were littering the floor with there insides. Metal Sonic looked at Rouge. "We should go before the real security get here." Metal Sonic walked towards the air vent, followed closely by Rouge.  
  
"Metal, that was amazing! How did Sonic ever defeat you?" Metal Sonic stopped briefly. He looked upward.  
  
"I was handicapped with inexperience and Eggman's limited imagination. A problem I have no more." Metal Sonic then continued to the air vent, kicking a robots arm on the way. Rouge followed. What did Metal Sonic mean by that? Was he planning something, could robots plan? Why should she care, capture Eggman and run off with the emeralds, that all she wants. Not to get mixed with traitorous ploys. Rouge watched Metal Sonic jump up back into the air vent and followed. Metal Sonic looked back at her. "Where's the last emerald?" Rouge shrugged. In reality she knew exactly were it was, but was under strict orders not to reveal its location. The government didn't want Eggman's Mangabot to run at optimum efficiently, just enough for them to know what threat it possessed. Strange tactic Rouge thought.  
  
Shadow looked around his surroundings. Where did that fox go Sonic was talking to? Shadow had almost forgot about him. The decedent area the G.U.N base inhabited showed no sings of life. Shadow sat himself down on a large rock. He closed his eyes to focus. Shadow sat immobile for about five minutes. Suddenly Shadow's arm shoot upward. It blocked an incoming fist. Shadow got up to be greeted by a red armadillo. Shadow and Mighty circled each other as they exchanged pleasantries.  
  
"Who are you suppose to be? Sonic's spikeless twin?" Mighty cast a sarcastic eye  
  
"Look who's talking."  
  
"Do not compare me to that murderer!" Shadow sent a fist in Mighty's direction. Mighty dodged the fist.  
  
"Murderer? The only people Sonic has killed are robots."  
  
"Lies! He killed Maria, when G.U.N massacred everyone on the A.R.K." Mighty frowned  
  
"Dude, Sonic is only sixteen."  
  
"So?"  
  
"A.R.K was raided by G.U.N fifteen years ago." Shadow stepped backward. His eyes burned in there sockets  
  
"You vile bag of deceit!" Shadow jumped at Mighty. Mighty moved out of the way as Shadow came down from above. Shadow ran at Mighty. Shadow elbowed Mighty and hit him countless times before he could react. Mighty kicked Shadow between the legs and jumped backward. Shadow's eye twitched violently. Shadow snapped out of it, determined to continue his attack. Mighty couldn't believe what he just saw, he had just kicked the guy... there... hard, and he shock it off as if it was just a bruise on his arm. What steroids was he on! Mighty decided to try to reason again.  
  
"Shadow, G.U.N are coming to capture you. I was informed beforehand to help save you." Shadow spat at Mighty.  
  
"Why should I believe you? Let them come, they can't win, I am the ultimate life form!" Talk about big ego. Mighty tried to come up if a plan fast. It was unlikely he will be able to knock him unconscious and take him that way. Shadow stared at Mighty, he smiled slightly. Then before Mighty's eyes Shadow disappeared. Mighty closed his eyes. He listened intently for signs of Shadow's presence. Mighty heard a fist piercing the wind to his left. Mighty blocked. He hear the same sound to his right, again he blocked. Shadow was randomly teleporting around Mighty, trying to hit him. Mighty blocked all the hits. Then Mighty heard two fists coming at him. Mighty ducked to hear a loud 'whack'. Mighty opened his eyes to see Amy standing over him, her hammer was making contact with Shadow's face. Amy looked around the area, then at Shadow.  
  
"Aren't you dead? Doesn't matter, where's Sonic?" Amy removed the hammer from Shadow's face. Shadow reconnected his bottom jaw and looked at Amy  
  
"And you are?" Amy was confused by the question.  
  
"Don't you remember me? I helped you realise that all of earth wasn't made of evil dictators." Shadow and Mighty both cast Amy a sarcastic eye. "What? Seriously."  
  
"Right, whatever. Oh and Sonic's has been placed above many spikes. Now if you don't mind, I'll like to kill this liar." Shadow rose his fist. Mighty rolled out of the day. Shadow was about to pursue Mighty when he was again hit by Amy's hammer. Amy started to attack Shadow with her hammer violently. Shadow dodged the hammer with ease. Amy swung with never ending power. Shadow jumped halfway up the cliff, out of reach of Amy. Mighty walked up to the cliff, clenched his fist and punched the cliff. The cliff started to tremble and crumble. Shadow began to lose his footing. He pulled out the emerald and shouted "Chaos con.. ahh!" Shadow fell. The Chaos emerald flied out of his hand. Shadow landed on Mighty's head. He then jumped off it and tried to grab the emerald. He missed and landed. Before he knew it Amy swung her hammer, knocking Shadow off his feet. Shadow fell on his back. Shadow got out his mobile phone, dialling Eggman. Shadow waited for an answer, then shouted "Doctor, I need help!" From within the phone came Eggman's voice.  
  
"I'll get you on the monitor... What's the matter, you can defeat the pink hedgehog and the Armadillo."  
  
"Doctor, I can't move or reach the emerald." Shadow looked over his shoulder. "And now G.U.N are coming." Eggman's voice again came  
  
"Shadow, you don't need to touch the emerald, just be close to it!" Shadow smiled and put away the phone. He looked at Amy and Mighty.  
  
"I hope you're prepared for them, Chaos control!" Shadow and the emerald disappeared. Amy and Mighty watched the oncoming mass of G.U.N soldiers.  
  
"I think we should leave" Mighty analysed. Amy didn't argue. 


	7. Mangabot's birth

Disclaimer: I own none of these people. There Sega's. Except the Mangabot itself and the Beta life form. Okay, I think thats it.  
  
Chapter 7: Mangabot's birth.  
  
Tails sat beside the spike pit. He was lucky Shadow mistakenly teleported him at the same time as Sonic or he might not have saved him. Sonic ran around the area. Where were they? Tails looked around. All the eye could see was metal flooring and a dark sky. Lightning occasionally struck. Tails didn't like lightning. Sonic came to a stop.  
  
"Tails get over here!" Sonic shouted Tails over. Tails walked over to find Sonic looking at a giant Metal trapdoor. Sonic put his foot on it. Nothing. Sonic looked annoyed. "Tails, I think we should find a way in there."  
  
"Why?" Tails asked.  
  
"I bet it'll lead to Eggman." Tails rolled his eyes, that's logical. Sonic and Tails pulled on the doors in an attempt to open them. After five minutes Sonic and Tails gave up trying to open the trapdoor. They started to walk away, until a sound cam from behind. Sonic turned around to see steam coming out of the now opening trapdoor. Once fully opened two figures rose out from underneath. Sonic and Tails watched as the steam settled to show Shadow and Metal Sonic coming from the trapdoor. Once they were on ground level they continued to rise. Underneath them was a colossal head. It had huge black eyes, with small green pupils, a beak like nose with a flamethrower attached to it. This was all situated on a semi-circle head. Next a body emerged. A huge circle with a large cannon in the middle, with various guns surrounding it. It had large hands built like elephants. After the huge red body came the large houses of feet it possessed. The grey legs were twenty times the size of Sonic. On these Legs were equally big, on one of which Rouge was sitting. From inside the machine boomed Eggman's voice  
  
"May I introduce the Mangabot!" Eggman laughed his maniacal laugh. Sonic looked at the Mangabot, it was the largest robot he had ever seen. Sonic ran at the robot. He became a blue blur which ran all over the Mangabot. After a while Sonic returned to his position beforehand. He looked at Tails worryingly. Eggman laughed again. "Oh, didn't I tell you? It has no weakness! All over its body it is plated with a metal so strong not even your accursed Echidna friend could break it." Tails looked at the robot, it looked like Eggman was correct. Shadow watched from above with glee as Sonic and Tails stared there, facing there hopeless situation with no plan. Metal Sonic was less happy. Eggman was going to find a way to screw up the plan, he just knew it. "Now my admiral foe, let me show you what this can do. Goodbye Sonic." Sonic smiled slightly. He had a plan. He knew there was only one person there who could stop this Mangabot.  
  
"So Eggman, what did you do to Shadow?" Shadow looked down at Sonic, confused.  
  
"What do you mean? I did nothing to him!" Eggman's voice sounded less enthusiastic than before.  
  
"You know, the brainwash thing, this stuff you made up about me killing some 'Maria' "  
  
"Lies! All lies!"  
  
"So Shadow never worked with me to stop the Bio-lizard?"  
  
"Never."  
  
"Or save us all from placing the master emerald in its shrine too late on A.R.K?"  
  
"No, he didn't"  
  
"How about using Chaos Control to stop the A.R.K crashing into the earth?"  
  
"Quiet!" The Mangabot began to fire at Sonic, who ran out of the way. Metal Sonic looked at Shadow, he was kneeling, holding his head.  
  
"How about collecting all those emeralds for the A.R.K cannon?" Shadow let out a small scream. Metal Sonic realised what was happening, Sonic was reminding Shadow of his true past! Metal Sonic jumped down. He fired his fingers at Sonic. Sonic dodged them. Metal Sonic landed straight in front of Sonic.  
  
"Let me show you just what I'm made of now!" Metal Sonic sneered. He grabbed Sonic and flied up until he was next to the Mangabot's cannon. "Now Eggman, fire the main weapon!" Metal Sonic shouted. A white glow appeared before the cannon. Tails looked up.  
  
"The cannon is using the power of the chaos emeralds, SONIC!" Tails flied at Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic held a hand in Tails direction and activated his flamethrower. It hit Tails. Tails tried to put himself out, until he fell to the floor and started rolling around to put out the flame.  
  
"Now Eggman..." Metal Sonic was losing grip as Sonic struggled. Sonic had almost struggled completely free when Metal Sonic threw Sonic at the cannon. Sonic flew helplessly towards the cannon as a huge blast of light was fired out of the cannon at him. The blast and Sonic were heading head on into each over. Tails looked up, now extinguished.  
  
"SONIC!!!"  
  
Mighty and Amy watched the G.U.N soldiers search the area for clues to Shadow's where about. They weren't very good, they hadn't even noticed them sitting atop the cliff. Mighty looked at Amy.  
  
"So what are you doing here?" Mighty asked.  
  
"I came here to find my darling Sonic." Amy replied. Another voice came from behind them.  
  
"You do know Sonic doesn't want you calling him that." Mighty and Amy looked up to see Knuckles standing above both of them. "Hi Mighty, I was watching you. Why do you suddenly want to help Shadow?" Mighty looked at Knuckles and smiled slightly.  
  
"Nice greeting. Anyway, I was trying to help Shadow because I'm now working with a bat called Rouge, who seems to know him. We're trying to save Shadow from Eggman and G.U.N." Knuckles gave Mighty a weird look.  
  
"Why would Rouge want to help Shadow?"  
  
"Knuckles, are you jealous?" Amy giggled. Knuckles quickly folded his arms  
  
"No, no, I'm just curious..." Knuckles' eyes darted around. Mighty went over and patted Knuckles on the shoulder.  
  
"Don't worry man, I think she likes you to." Knuckles punched Mighty in the nose  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about, this isn't a witch hunt, I'VE DONE NOTHING WRONG!" Knuckles had ended up shouting. Unfortunately this had caught the attention of the G.U.N soldiers, who began to shoot at them. Knuckles, thankful for the distraction, jumped down into the fray of the action. Mighty followed, while Amy took cover. Knuckles and Mighty whipped out the majority of the soldiers between them. The soldiers all fell with one hit. One of the Soldiers ran behind a rock and pulled out a walkie talkie.  
  
"Release the beta life form now!" Shouted the soldier. Knuckles looked over at the soldier. Beta life form? What the hell is that? Suddenly Knuckles was hit from behind by a bolt of blue. Was that Sonic or something? It knocked Knuckles and Mighty to the ground, where they were surrounded by guns. The bolt stopped to show a dark blue hedgehog with red streaks on his spikes like Shadow. It had one red pupil and one green pupil .It wore a G.U.N uniform . Mighty rubbed his head.  
  
"Sonic? Shadow?" Mighty questioned. The Hedgehog laughed.  
  
"No, I'm the Beta life form. The first attempt to clone two creatures into one, and G.U.N's ultimate weapon." Mighty looked confused  
  
"What?" The Beta life form sighed.  
  
"I am the DNA of Shadow and Sonic, sliced and cloned."  
  
"So, Beta, technically you are the product of Sonic and Shadow?"  
  
"Correct." The Beta life form, tired of Mighty's questions, kicked him in the face with a mighty kick. Mighty felt like his face was about to fall off.  
  
"He kicks like Sonic and Shadow combined." Mighty groaned. The Beta life smiled. He kicked Mighty again and moved to Knuckles. Knuckles watched as The Beta life form came up to him, he was about to administered the same punishment to him when he suddenly heard cries of agony. The Beta life form looked around to see almost all of the G.U.N soldiers on the floor, wincing with pain. Then he heard another voice from behind him.  
  
"Take this you stupid Shadow/Sonic thing!" Amy whacked him from behind with her hammer. The Beta life form showed no sign of pain and turned around. Amy repeatedly hit him to only be greeted to a lack of reaction. The Beta life form grabbed Amy's arm.  
  
"And you are?" The Beta life form asked. Amy didn't give a direct answer.  
  
"Go away! What have we done to you? Anyway, you're only a Beta copy, you're not really G.U.N's ultimate weapon, just a test run." The Beta life form let go of Amy's neck.  
  
"Until the next copy I will be the ultimate weapon, maybe even then!"  
  
"No, you're just a expendable trail run." Amy felt strangely good about taunting him. The Beta life form lost control and attacked Amy. Amy couldn't believe how fast he was moving, it looked like there were two of him! Amy couldn't dodge, she couldn't make space to retreat, he was a unstoppable fighting machine!  
  
"I will destroy any who stand in my way! Shadow is only still the ultimate life form because he has yet to face me! I will show my superiors there is no need to improve me!" The Beta life form punched Amy fifty miles through the air. He pulled a gun out of his belt and took aim. Knuckles watched as the Beta life form prepared to kill Amy. Knuckles shouted the first thing which came to mind.  
  
"We can take you to Shadow!" The Beta life form stopped and looked at Knuckles, as did everyone else. "Don't kill us and we can take you to Shadow to prove your worth. You can be the ultimate life form." The Beta life form smiled.  
  
"No, I'll be the Ultimate weapon." 


	8. The final emerald

Disclaimer: I own none of these people. There Sega's. Except the Mangabot itself and the Beta life form. Okay, I think thats it.  
  
Chapter 8: The final emerald  
  
Metal Sonic watched as Sonic was engulfed by the blast. Metal Sonic then watched the blast head towards him. Metal Sonic was then hit by the blast. The blast continued to move until it was out of site. Eggman stopped the weapon from firing. The blast of light shrank into non-existence. Metal Sonic looked as if he was never attacked, except for the steam coming off him. He watched Sonic fell to the ground bellow. Metal Sonic looked at the Mangabot.  
  
"It hasn't killed him, we need all seven Chaos emeralds." Metal Sonic shouted at Eggman. Sonic landed with a thump. Tails ran over to him. Tails looked him over.  
  
"You seem to just be badly burned." Sonic looked at Tails.  
  
"Just? Maybe you'll like to be hit by that." Sonic looked at the Mangabot. Maybe he could... Sonic jumped up onto his feet. He ran up the front of the Mangabot. He reached the cannon and jumped down it. Tails understood Sonic's plan. There must be a way to the robots fuel, the emeralds, through there. Wait, Metal Sonic was laughing. Did he not understand Sonic's plan or did he know the plan isn't going to work. Tails looked at the cannon. Rouge was uninterested in Sonic's plan, she was looking at an oncoming robot. It was an E-series robot. In his hand he was holding something. From inside the Mangabot came Eggman's voice yet again  
  
"Ah, E-120, you have the final piece." Rouge looked at the Mangabot.  
  
"What happened to E-116 up to E-119?" Metal Sonic started to whistle. Rouge picked up the hint. Sonic jumped out of the cannon. Looking slightly annoyed.  
  
"Tails, he using a filter made of the indestructible metal so the emerald power could get out, but I couldn't get in, who is that?" Sonic looked at E-120.  
  
"A E-series robot." Tails replied. Sonic decided not to give it a chance and instantly spindashed E-120. E-120 took about three hits before exploding. Out of his hand came a emerald. The final Chaos emerald. Sonic smiled and grabbed it. He turned to the Mangabot  
  
"Oh, so close Eggy." Suddenly Sonic's view was blocked by two red eyes. Shadow did a sweeping kick, knocking Sonic over. Shadow made a grab for the Chaos emerald. Sonic, thinking fast shouted "Chaos control!!!" Sonic disappeared and appeared above the Mangabot. That's not were he wanted to be! Sonic tried again, only to end up on the robots arm. No! "I want to go inside the robot!" Sonic shouted at the emerald. Sonic looked to see both Shadow and Metal Sonic charging at him. Lets try again. Sonic thought. This time he ended up above the spikes again. No, no, NO! Sonic used chaos control again and ended up next to Tails. "How are you suppose to do this?" Sonic complained. Tails took the emerald.  
  
"Let me try, Chaos control!" Tails stood there, nothing happening. "I'm annoyed now." Tails muttered. Tails was piled on by Metal Sonic and Shadow. Shadow jumped out of the fray holding the emerald.  
  
"Chaos co... ahh!" Sonic punched Shadow in the chest. He grabbed his stomach, letting go of the emerald. Metal Sonic pushed Tails aside and flied at the emerald. Sonic picked it up to be charge at by Metal Sonic at full speed. Metal Sonic continued, taking Sonic with him. Sonic grabbed Metal Sonic and flipped over him. He was then hit by a barrage of bullets from the Mangabot. Sonic dodged the bullets and looked around. Shadow coming from the left, Metal Sonic from the right, the Mangabot from in front. Sonic ran away from the Mangabot. Metal Sonic stopped, and ran in the opposite direction.  
  
"Tails, hurry up!" Sonic shouted. Sonic then heard laughing. Sonic looked over his soldier. Metal Sonic had Tails by the neck.  
  
"Wanna trade? The emerald for Prowler's life." Sonic looked confused. "You know, Tails!"  
  
"Oh right." Sonic looked for a way out of the situation. Lets see... Shadow, no help. Pile of robot parts, no help. Rouge, no help. Giant killer robot, no help. This is a problem.  
  
"throw the emerald to Shadow, NOW!" Metal Sonic let his spiky finger scratch Tails face, drawing a small amount of blood. Sonic looked again, still no way out. Admitting defeat Sonic tossed Shadow the emerald. Shadow caught it. He then tossed it in the sky.  
  
"Chaos control!" The emerald warped, without Shadow. Sonic presumed the emerald was now in the Mangabot." Metal Sonic looked at Sonic. He tightened his grip on Tails.  
  
"Now don't move." Metal Sonic stabbed Tails, making him scream. The Mangabot began to power up its cannon. The Mangabot leaned slightly until Sonic was once again staring down the barrel of the cannon. Sonic's mind was racing. How can he save both himself and Tails?  
  
"Sonic! Save yourself, Metal will just aggh..." Metal Sonic stabbed Tails again. To be honest Sonic was glad for the silence. Sonic was lost for ideas. This could be the end...  
  
"What the..." Shadow was knocked off his feet into the Mangabot. Metal Sonic looked around at Shadow. Sonic used this distraction to make his move. He ran at Metal Sonic, tripping him over and saving Tails. Sonic got away from Metal Sonic and Shadow and looked at who saved his behind. It was a uniformed blue hedgehog with mismatched eyes. Shadow rubbed his head. "And you are?" The Beta life form stared at Shadow.  
  
"I am the true ultimate." The Beta life form sneered. Shadow spat at the Beta life form.  
  
"Some jumbled up G.U.N lackey can't be better than me." Laughed Shadow. The Beta life form lowered his brow and charged at Shadow. Shadow jumped into the air, as did the Beta life form. They both began to punch and kick each over with overwhelming speed. Neither could land a hit on each over. It looked like they had six fists each, four legs, ten heads. Both were speeding up, soon they were almost on fire. Sonic looked at amazement at what had just happened. Since when did Shadow move like that? Mighty, Amy and Knuckles ran up to Sonic. Sonic turned around.  
  
"Hey guys! How'd you find me?" Knuckles took out a small monitor.  
  
"We knew Shadow had a Chaos emerald, so I used this 'emerald tracker' I 'burrowed' from Rouge to find him, then you." Knuckles looked over at Shadow and the Beta life forms fight. "...Wow..." Shadow and the Beta life form landed. They caused a huge crater to form underneath them. Shadow managed to rip the Beta life forms right sleeve off. Underneath it were some green Japanese symbol tattoos. Shadow jumped back from the Beta life form.  
  
"Nice tattoos." Shadow remarked sarcastically.  
  
"It stands for 'Ying and Yang united' " Claimed the Beta life form. The Beta life form put his hands together and shouted. "Chaos wind!" A black energy came from within him, spreading itself and flying at Shadow with great speed. Shadow didn't get time to move and received the full power of the attack. The Beta life form smirked. "As you can see Shadow, I can combine your powers and Sonic's powers into new, more powerful attacks, like Chaos sphere and Sonic wind into the attack you just took." Shadow rubbed his head. Who is this guy? Doesn't matter. Shadow teleported behind him and punched him. The Beta life form only showed a small reaction. Shadow frowned. He hit him repeatedly. Again the Beta life form just shock it off. Shadow gave him one last almighty punch, which managed to knock him over.  
  
"Hmm... cloning." Eggman's voice sounded thoughtful. Metal Sonic stared at the Mangabot.  
  
"Finish Sonic and his friends you tub of lard!" Metal Sonic shouted. Eggman replied angrily.  
  
"You will not insult your master!"  
  
"I'll do what I like, now kill!" Metal Sonic replied. Eggman was taken aback by Metal Sonic's attitude, but decided he did have a point. The Mangabot aimed at Sonic and his surrounding friends. Sonic realised what was happening just in time to doge the bullets. Sonic grabbed Tails, Mighty and Knuckles. The Mangabot couldn't be bothered to attack Amy so Sonic couldn't be bothered to save her. Sonic ran circles around the Mangabot. The top part of it rotated around to keep its sites on Sonic. Sonic looked up at the Mangabot to be hit backward. Sonic looked forward to see what had hit him. It was Shadow, in mid-fight with the Beta life form. Rouge looked on at the fight. Metal Sonic walked up to her.  
  
"How'd Eggman find the last emerald anyway?" Rouge asked Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic grabbed Rouge in a similar fashion to how he grabbed Tails earlier.  
  
"You forgot to erase some messages detailing the where about of the final emerald on your mobile." Metal Sonic tightened his grip. "The President was a fool to even tell you were the emerald was." Rouge gasped, they found out she was a spy! Rouge struggled, just to feel Metal Sonic slowly start to strangle her. Metal Sonic watched with glee as Rouge's face turned blue. Rouge started to kick at Metal Sonic, but to no effect. Rouge took one of her hands away from her neck and pointed. Metal Sonic looked, to be sent flying backwards by the Beta life form, who had been sent flying by Shadow. Rouge was released and ran off. Metal Sonic pushed aside the Beta life form to pursue Rouge. Metal Sonic was quickly gaining on Rouge when... "Arrrghh!" Metal Sonic grabbed his face in pain. Knuckles had hit him squarely in the face. Knuckles then gave Metal Sonic a uppercut punch, sending him flying. Rouge looked at Knuckles and hugged him.  
  
"You saved me!!" Rouge then realised what she was doing and released Knuckles. "Emmm, I mean, errr, thanks sugar." Knuckles was about to say something, but was knocked over by the Beta life form, going back to kill Shadow. Rouge helped Knuckles back on his feet and again watched Shadow and the Beta life form continued there fight. Shadow was breathing heavily. He was going to fast. He was going to tire to soon at this rate. The Beta life form ran up towards him. The Beta life form was still going strong. Suddenly a large blast was heard. Both Shadow and the Beta life form looked over at the source of the sound. The Mangabot's cannon was firing again. The blast was following Sonic, destroying the ground as it went. Sonic was running in there direction. Both hedgehogs jumped out of the way as Sonic and the blast ran past. The Beta life form snarled.  
  
"Distractions. Shadow! Tell your master to stop interrupting our battle!" Shadow snarled back at the Beta life form.  
  
"Don't tell me what to do. Besides, he is not my master." Shadow prepared himself for the onslaught of fists he is about to endure. The Beta life form brushed one of his spikes. He was trying to intimidate him. The Beta life form gave Shadow a cocky smile.  
  
"Chaos Control!" The inside of the Mangabot glowed slightly, as the Beta life form teleported behind Shadow and pounded his back into the ground. Shadow turned over and looked up at the Beta life form. "Poor Shadow. What if Maria could see you know. Cowering on the ground, doing the complete opposite of her wish." Shadow coughed.  
  
"Her... wish." Shadow sounded confused. The Beta life form kicked him a little.  
  
"Its written into my DNA as a memory. 'Give them a chance to be happy' or something." Shadow suddenly stopped moving, his eyes widened. "Doesn't matter. Now you die and I become the ultimate weapon."  
  
Rouge and Knuckles looked on in amazement. Knuckles turned to Rouge.  
  
"Who do we help?" Rouge looked at the Beta life form standing over Shadow.  
  
"I think Shadow would be a wise choice." Rouge replied. Knuckles suddenly looked startled and turned. Rouge turned as well. Both of them were grabbed by long cords coming out of Metal Sonic's arms. Before they knew what was happening both fell over. They were being electrocuted! Knuckles tried to pull it off, to no prevail. Metal Sonic watched his prisoners determined. Sonic ran to there rescue. Unfortunately the Mangabot was still firing at him. Metal Sonic started to use his finger rockets again. Sonic jumped all the missiles, to be hit by the guns from the Mangabot. Sonic fell to the ground. The Mangabot aimed its cannon at Sonic for a third time, but this time Sonic couldn't move his legs. Eggman laughed.  
  
"Those bullets send a mild electric bolt through your leg, paralysing them. Goodbye hedgehog." Sonic looked around, Shadow was being beaten into the ground, Knuckles and Rouge were being electrocuted to death and he was about to be wiped out by the Mangabot. Shoot. Wait, where was Tails, Mighty and Amy? Sonic looked up. He decided that was the least of his worries... 


	9. The past is never lost

Disclaimer: I own none of these people. There Sega's. Except the Mangabot itself and the Beta life form. Okay, I think thats it.  
  
Chapter 9: The past is never lost  
  
Shadow's mind was racing. That was Maria's last wish! He wasn't aware until the pink hedgehog reminded him... when the A.R.K was crashing... and Sonic and friends were trying to stop it... Shadow was gaining back his memories. Shadow could now remember clearly being waken by Eggman, up to current. He could also remember snippets of being on the A.R.K. Maria's wish was connected so greatly to his life back then, the memory of it was bringing back his others. The Beta life form came at him with a fist. Shadow grabbed it and chucked the Beta life form out of his way. Shadow looked up at the Mangabot.  
  
"You keniving little prat. You've been using me! Sonic wasn't even alive when Maria died!" Random swearing then emerged from the Mangabot, followed by some coughing.  
  
"err.. No, your wrong." Eggman feebly tried to cover up the truth. Shadow was looked like he was about to go out of control. He was about to make his move, when the Beta life form pulled him back into there fight. Shadow didn't show he was exhausted. He fought the Beta life form with great power, before pushing him aside. Shadow ran at the Mangabot and spin attacked the cannon. Shadow managed to hit the cannon off target and watched as it fired into nothingness. Shadow raised a fist, and watched as the Beta life form couldn't stop fast enough and ran straight into it.  
  
"Stop! I have Knuckles and Rouge. I'll kill them now if you don't stop!" Metal Sonic sounded worried. Sonic looked at Shadow.  
  
"Just to check, you're on my side now." Shadow nodded. Sonic looked up at the Mangabot. If only he could get Knuckles and Rouge out of danger. Well, maybe just Knuckles. He didn't even know why Metal Sonic would threaten Rouge.  
  
"Sonic, Rouge is a agent for the president." Oh, Sonic thought. Metal Sonic backed away slightly. He moved his gaze to the Beta life form.  
  
"Oh Shadow." Metal Sonic laughed slightly. The Beta life form knocked Shadow over. He started to pummel him into the ground. Sonic raised his fist. "Don't help him!" Metal Sonic warned, electrocuting Knuckles slightly. Sonic wasn't going to put Knuckles in danger. Shadow could at least fight back. Shadow kicked the Beta life form off himself. The Beta life form almost looked like he floated to the ground. Shadow looked at his feet. Air shoes, great. Shadow ran at him. The Beta life form put both his fist in front of his chest.  
  
"Die Shadow, die." He muttered. The two made contact. A massive explosion expanded around them. As the smoke cleared a blue blur and a black blur were all that was seen. The Beta life form hit Shadow. Shadow went fling into the Mangabot. The Beta life form stopped. What was that noise? The Beta life form looked around and jumped out of the way in time. The Tornado then directed its path at Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic could get out of the way in time. He was sent miles away, attached to the Tornado's propellers. Tails gave Sonic a thumbs up from the cockpit. Amy blew a kiss at him and Mighty jumped out, landing next to Knuckles and Rouge.  
  
"Good timing." Complimented Sonic. "Been slightly better about five minutes ago." He added. Mighty looked over at Rouge, the mentioned something.  
  
"By the way, Rouge is a good..."  
  
"We know." Everyone said. Mighty looked at the Mangabot.  
  
"Look out!" He shouted. The four animals jumped out of the way of the machines bullets. Sonic ran over to the Beta life form, kicking him in the head.  
  
"Shadow! Use chaos control to take the emeralds out of the Mangabot!" The Beta life form punched Sonic backwards. He focused again on Shadow. Where was he? The Beta life form scanned the area. He looked at the Mangabot. Its chest was rumbling. Then it flashed as Shadow reappeared holding the seven Chaos emeralds. Everyone looked at the Mangabot. It had stopped moving. Had they won? Everyone kept there gaze on it... The Mangabot started to shoot again. From inside came Eggman's laugh.  
  
"It has already absorbed enough of the emeralds' power to go for another three months!" Sonic dodged the bullets. Shoot! So close! Sonic turned to Shadow.  
  
"Shadow! Can't you destroy it from the inside?" Shadow smiled slightly.  
  
"No, but you can destroy it from the outside." Shadow threw the Chaos emeralds at Sonic. Sonic jumped in the air and grabbed them all. Sonic landed again and concentrated his power, The Chaos emeralds began to circle around him, getting faster all the time. Bullets from the Mangabot simply bounced away. Sonic opened his eyes and screamed. His spikes stood up, his body changed yellow, the emeralds became one with him. Sonic laughed. He was now Super Sonic. Super Sonic flied around the Mangabot, knocking the Beta life form over again. Super Sonic flied directly at the Mangabot. He hit it head on.  
  
"Holy..." Super Sonic grabbed his head. OW! That was the first time anything could withstand Super Sonic power! Super Sonic started to punch furiously. Every punch was weakening the metal. He knew it. The bullets just bounced off him. Everyone watched Sonic destroying the Mangabot. Even the Beta life form had stopped attacking Shadow. The Mangabot fired its cannon. It only succeeded in knocking Super Sonic backwards. Super Sonic fought against the weapon, inching closer and closer to the Mangabot. Super Sonic gave the machine one final punch. The metal outer layer broke open. Super Sonic flied through the opening. Everyone watched as the Mangabot started to crack, it made crashing noises. Shadow watched with awe. Suddenly he got an idea. Shadow grabbed the Beta life form. He ran with him until he was underneath the Mangabot. The Beta life form began to panic. He tried to break free, but Shadow somehow kept a strong grip on him.  
  
"What are you doing?" The Beta life form shouted. "You'll kill us both!" Shadow started laughing as the Mangabot fell on top of them both.  
  
"You might die, but you forget, I'm the ultimate life form." Shadow smiled as him and the Beta life form disappeared underneath Eggman's giant weapon. Super Sonic landed and reverted back to Sonic. The Chaos emeralds fell beside him. Tails and Amy came back in the Tornado, landing close by. Everyone was congratulating Sonic on a job well done. Amy hugged Sonic around the waist.  
  
"I knew you could do it!" Amy laughed. Sonic looked around.  
  
"Where is Shadow?" Knuckles walked over to Sonic.  
  
"He went under with the Mangabot, to stop the Beta life form." Sonic's head dropped.  
  
"He went for what he believed him. It was his way." Mighty added. From behind the Mangabot a metal hedgehog listened.  
  
"How easily they forget he's the ultimate life form." Metal Sonic muttered. He moved over to the Mangabot's remains. He moved some parts out of the way. He then smiled.  
  
"Eggman, how would you like the ultimate army?" Metal Sonic smirked.  
  
A week later and the Mangabot was a fading memory. Everyone was again thought Shadow was dead. Once again Eggman had sneaked away before being captured. What was not known was what was being built in Eggman's new base. The base was really only one giant room. It had to be to contain what it held. Eggman walked along the bridge of the flagship. Metal Sonic approached him. There was something about him different. He seemed more tense, as if angry about something. Metal Sonic also seemed taller. Metal Sonic walked up to Eggman. There was an anger in his eyes. Metal Sonic tried to hide it.  
  
"Have you separated Alpha Shadow from the rest." Metal Sonic asked.  
  
"Yes, I also put E-123 in there to guard him." Eggman replied. Metal Sonic laughed slightly. Eggman failed to see what was so funny.  
  
"Eggman data: Copied." Eggman looked at Metal Sonic in surprise.  
  
"What? what does that mean?" Metal Sonic then punched Eggman in the chest.  
  
"I have bettered myself, Eggman." Metal Sonic kicked him. "You have left me for too long like this. I have yet to defeat Sonic, yet you still don't upgrade me." Metal Sonic knocked Eggman backwards. "That is why I had to better myself. Now is my time to rule the world!" Metal Sonic threw Eggman into a cell. Metal Sonic tool out a walkie talkie and tossed it to Eggman. "In two days the other one will reach Chaotix. They might be able to free you, but I want them to come for a reason." Eggman could only sit there and look as Metal Sonic betrayed him. Then Eggman realised something.  
  
"My robots will never follow you." Metal Sonic laughed. He then proceeded to liquefy himself. He turned into a metal liquid, then he remerged, looking identical to Eggman.  
  
"However, they will follow you." Metal Sonic even sounded like Eggman. Metal Sonic laughed once again. It was finally here, He could finally take the world. He could finally prove what immense power he actually contained. He could finally prove he was the real Sonic...  
  
Continued in 'Sonic heroes' 


End file.
